Nevertheless, the Dark Lady searched tirelessly for a worthy apprentice to stand at her side, both to continue the millennium-long tradition that was established by the ancient Sith Lord Darth Bane, and to exact vengeance on the resurgent Jedi Order for the fall of the last true Sith Lords. Her first choice fell on a Force-sensitive Imperial stormtrooper named Flint. Like Lumiya, Flint was also given basic instructions in the Sith ways by Darth Vader, who sought to see which of his two secret apprentices was the better choice to have at his side when he decided to overthrow Darth Sidious. However, Lumiya's decision to rule with her rival backfired when Flint renounced the dark side after choosing the path of redemption.

After spending some time without an apprentice, Lumiya eventually settled on Carnor Jax as her apprentice and Flint's successor. The young Sith prospect was a highly-trained Imperial Sovereign Protector within Darth Sidious' Royal Guard. Unlike the super majority of his fellow guardsmen, who were unquestioningly faithful to Sidious, Jax was loyal only to himself and his ambitions. When Sidious returned from the dead by inserting his spirit into several clone versions of himself in turn, Jax masterminded a plot to bring a premature end to the return of the resurrectedEmperor. His machinations led to the poisoning of the Emperor's clone supplies, which proved to be the catalyst behind the final death of Darth Sidious. Jax immediately attempted to install himself as the next emperor, but his ambitious designs on the Imperial throne were ended along with his life by fellow guardsman Kir Kanos. Left without an apprentice once again, Lumiya decided to go underground and disappear from the forefront of galactic events.

During the many years she spent in hiding, Lumiya eventually crossed paths with the former Jedi KnightVergere, who once had the opportunity to learn the ways of the Sith from Darth Sidious years before the creation of the Galactic Empire. Under the Fosh's tutelage, Lumiya fulfilled her training which had begun years ago by Darth Vader, and thus she truly achieved the full status of Dark Lady of the Sith. While she still sought to undermine the rapidly increasing power of the Jedi Order, her first priority became the survival of the Sith. With her devotion to the Rule of Two intact, she became determined once more to find a new apprentice that would carry the Sith legacy into a new generation. Yet due to the disadvantages of having so many cybernetic attachments to her body, Lumiya believed that she would never reach her true potential.

Thus, she required an individual who was exceptionally powerful in the Force; the one who would become a Sith champion by restoring the Order back to its former glory. Her choice for a third and final apprentice ultimately fell on the Jedi KnightJacen Solo, who happened to be a grandson of her former Master, Darth Vader. The Jedi philosopher took fairly little convincing to turn, and the young man who had once been Jacen Solo underwent a gradual metamorphosis that resulted in the birth of Darth Caedus, the first active Dark Lord of the Sith since the time of Sidious and Vader.

Although Lumiya began to learn the ways of the Sith under the tutelage of a Sith Lord, Darth Vader was prevented from taking on an official disciple while he himself remained apprenticed to Darth Sidious. Knowing that he could not hide her existence for an indefinite period of time, Vader presented Lumiya as a "gift" and prospective Sith assassin to his master. Sidious, who ruled the Empire under the guise of Emperor Palpatine, accepted Lumiya into the ranks of the Emperor's Hands, and thus continued her instruction in the basic principles of Sith knowledge and power.[13]

The demise of both Sidious and Vader left Lumiya without anyone to further her Sith training. Nevertheless, the devotion she possessed to her fallen masters inspired Lumiya to continue progressing in dark side lore on her own volition. Hence, she declared herself Dark Lady of the Sith, thus beginning a new generation of Sith to carry on the legacy of Darth Bane's Order.[13] Though she held Vader's son, the JediLuke Skywalker, responsible for the demise of her instructors, Lumiya's ultimate objective in life became the preservation of the Sith. With Sidious and Vader gone, much of their knowledge was lost as well. The line of the Sith Lords since Darth Bane and Darth Zannah was broken, and without true successors to their legacy, the Sith as a whole was teetering on the edge of oblivion. Lumiya effectively founded a new Sith Order by claiming the title of Dark Lady, but retained the core ideals that were paramount to the survival of the previous Order.[14]

Preserving the Rule of Two

"In terms of the classic Master–and–apprentice Sith structure, there can be only two…"

Aside from mirroring the tactics of secrecy and elusiveness that kept the Sith Lords of Darth Bane's Order hidden for a millennium,[14] Lumiya was a strict adherent to the Rule of Two.[4] The ancient doctrine, as envisioned by Bane, commanded that the power of the dark side could be divided between only two Sith Lords throughout the entire galaxy at any given time; one Sith Master personified power, and a single Sith apprentice coveted it.[15] Lumiya thus began her search for an ideal candidate who was worthy and strong enough to learn the ways of the dark side.[2]

Though exceptionally powerful in the Force in her own right,[16] Lumiya had not been the only protégé of Darth Vader. Her mentor trained several candidates who had the potential to serve as his Sith apprentice; the most powerful student who destroyed the others would have been deemed worthy enough to stand at Vader's side. When the plan ended with Vader's death, Lumiya sought out one of her fellow prospective students, a Force-sensitive stormtrooper named Flint. Ironically, she and Flint were originally supposed to fight to the death in order for Vader to see which of the two was stronger, but the Dark Lord's premature death left them both without a master to complete their training. Lumiya eventually tracked Flint's location to Vader's abandoned citadel on Vjun, where they fought to see who deserved the rank of Sith Master. Lumiya ultimately proved to be the more powerful of the two, and with victory she secured her first apprentice, thus restoring the Rule of Two as an actively practiced doctrine.[2]

Unfortunately for Lumiya's plans, her success in choosing an apprentice was short-lived. When she tasked her new disciple with avenging the deaths of Sidious and Vader by destroying Luke Skywalker and the Alliance of Free Planets, a successor organization to the former Rebel Alliance, she never anticipated that Flint would find redemption in the light side of the Force through Vader's own son. Betrayed and left without an heir to the Sith legacy, an outraged Lumiya swore to exact vengeance on her renegade pupil for turning his back on her and the dark side of the Force. Several years after his defection, Flint was killed on his homeworld of Belderone, having apparently been stabbed through the throat by his former master's signature weapon.[2]

Rebirth of Darth Sidious

"I'm not sure I even count the Emperor's clones as Sith. After all, they didn't earn their Sith knowledge, didn't acquire it through sweat and sacrifice; they inherited it like a package of downloaded computer programming. I think that the last Sith were gone when the Emperor and your grandfather died on the same day. But plenty of Sith legacy survived. Individuals who were candidates to become Sith and failed for some reason to achieve full apprenticeship. They knew enough to survive, enough to continue learning. One may have learned enough to become a Master."

The loss of Flint was a setback that undermined Lumiya's goal to restore the Sith to its former glory, thus forcing her to resume the search for a powerful apprentice. The Dark Lady eventually found a suitable candidate in a Force-sensitive Royal Guardsman named Carnor Jax, whom Lumiya had discovered through her alliance with DirectorYsanne Isard of Imperial Intelligence. Although Jax received only minimal training in the dark side of the Force, his ascension as Lumiya's apprentice ensured the Sith's survival for the time being.[3] Through Jax's position in the Royal Guard, Lumiya intended to place the Galactic Empire under the rule of the Sith once again. Thus, she commanded her disciple to infiltrate the upper levels of the political hierarchy. They would place themselves in a position to seize control of the Empire and eliminate any potential threats to the new Sith Order.[2]

While Carnor Jax began secretly manipulating the Imperial Ruling Council, he was approached by Nom Anor, a representative of an extra-galactic race of conquerors that were interested in an alliance with the Sith against the rising power of the New Republic. Around this time, however, the galaxy learned of Darth Sidious' survival through a combination of cloning technology and an ancient Force technique, both of which together enabled the fallen Emperor to place his soul within a temporary vessel. His choice of hosts fell on genetic duplicates of his original body, grown to full maturity at an abnormally accelerated rate through the use of the Spaarti version of cloning. However, the Dark Lord's return was brief; his ultimate downfall was brought about by his enemies in the New Republic and, ironically, by traitorous elements within his own Inner Circle. Though Lumiya's active endeavors to further the Sith cause were apparently halted by the Emperor's rebirth, her apprentice conspired to bring an end to the long-reigning Dark Lord of the Sith once and for all.[2]

As Sidious became increasingly distracted with annihilating the New Republic and Luke Skywalker's fledgling Jedi Order, the Dark Lord failed to notice a conspiracy to destroy his most precious assets—his reserve stock of clone bodies. With his own dark energy too much for an unnaturally conceived body to contain, each clone that his spirit possessed suffered from an accelerated and unstoppable rate of decay. The chief culprit behind the destruction of his clone supplies was Carnor Jax, who had been appointed to the ranks of the Emperor's most trusted members of the Royal Guard, the Imperial Sovereign Protectors.[2] Roughly a year after his return, Darth Sidious died for the final time, never to return again as his soul was dragged into the abyss of the dark side.[17] With Sidious gone forever, Jax immediately attempted to install himself as the next emperor. Yet his designs on the throne were prematurely ended, partially due to his own treachery. Kir Kanos, a fellow guardsman and loyal follower of the slain Emperor, hunted and killed Carnor Jax for his role in the demise of Darth Sidious.[18] With yet another apprentice who failed to achieve the full status of a Sith Lord, Lumiya was forced to hide in exile on the Sith world of Korriban, but continued to remain vigilant on the unfolding of galactic events throughout the many years that she spent in hiding.[2]

A new direction for the Sith

"The Sith who were famous for being bad, Jacen, were the way they were because they were badly damaged men or women to start with. Not because they were Sith. Usually, they were weak, or deluded, or greedy to begin with. Like your grandfather."

When the galaxy was subjected to a full-scale invasion by the Yuuzhan Vong in 25 ABY, Lumiya discovered that, though she was without an apprentice to carry on the legacy of the dark side, she was not the only one who continued to pursue a plan to rebuild the Sith. A former Jedi Master of the Old Republic named A'Sharad Hett, traumatized by the Great Jedi Purge and disillusioned with the Jedi way, submitted himself to the ancient Sith teachings of XoXaan. Shortly after his capture by the Yuuzhan Vong, Hett was discovered by a fellow exile known as Vergere, who, like Hett, was once a member of the fallen Jedi Order before immersing herself in the lore of the dark side. Although the Fosh ex-Jedi Knight initially saw potential in Hett, she was greatly disappointed to realize that her prospective student lacked the same beliefs that she possessed. Rather than adhere to Darth Bane's Rule of Two, Hett believed that the Sith had to be rebuilt in an extremely radical manner, and thus he brainstormed a new tenet known as the Rule of One. Instead of only two Sith Lords at a time, Hett wanted to create a new Sith Order composed of many darksiders, all of whom would operate under the absolute authority of a single Dark Lord.[19]

Vergere, a strict adherent to the teachings of Darth Bane, refused to participate in any plan to rebuild the Sith by discarding the Rule of Two, and thus left Hett to suffer at the hands of the extra-galactic invaders.[19] At some point during the Yuuzhan Vong War, Vergere met the Dark Lady Lumiya, whom she found to be a far more promising disciple than the heretic A'Sharad Hett.[20] The Fosh explained her own connection to the Sith through the late Darth Sidious, whom she once had the opportunity to learn from as an aspiring Sith apprentice. She also revealed how the former Jedi Hett, by then known as Darth Krayt, founded the One Sith, a drastically re-envisioned Order that was based on his own ideals.[19] During her time with the Fosh, Lumiya completed the training she had begun many years ago under Darth Vader through Vergere's wisdom, thus achieving the status of a full-fledged Dark Lady of the Sith.[21]

After A'Sharad Hett escaped from the Yuuzhan Vong and fled to Korriban where he built the foundations of the One Sith, the self-anointed Sith Lord hoped to recruit Lumiya to his cause. But as with Vergere, Lumiya had no interest in discarding the Rule of Two for Krayt's heretical views. Furthermore, she was convinced that the One Sith was too slow and inactive to pose any real threat to the meteoric rise of Luke Skywalker's Jedi Order. Unwilling to deviate from the traditions of Bane and Zannah, Lumiya rejected Krayt's vision and pursued a plan to rebuild the Sith Order in its orthodox form.[20]

The teachings of Vergere provided Lumiya with a new sense of purpose in life. Her personal ambitions and feelings of self-importance were superseded by the need to fulfill a destiny—the restoration of peace and stability throughout the galaxy by imposing order through Sith teachings and the power of the dark side.[5] Yet both women were well aware that neither of them was suitable for the ultimate task; Lumiya's Force potential had been severely diminished by her cybernetic implants, and Vergere was tainted by her collaboration with the Yuuzhan Vong. Hence, they planned to recruit and train a new Dark Lord of the Sith, the one who would champion their cause as a benevolent dictator. In their eyes, the Jedi Order's inability to create a lasting era of harmony necessitated the return of the Sith in a turbulent galaxy too often destabilized by war and disorder.[7]

The selection of who would be their chosen one was paramount to the success of their overall objective. Lumiya and Vergere had neither the time or energy to train a young Force-sensitive from scratch, and thus they naturally looked to the most powerful members of the Jedi Order. Among the Jedi that they considered, both Lumiya and Vergere were heavily interested in the descendants of Darth Vader. While Leia Organa Solo, daughter of Vader, was a natural leader and a capable politician, she was also too fearful of her father's legacy. Her daughter, Jaina Solo, was discarded as a possibility because of her tendency to be ruled by her emotions, rather than the need to serve the greater good. Mara Jade Skywalker, though not of Vader's blood, was powerful in her own right and—like Lumiya—a former Emperor's Hand. However, she was also deemed unworthy because of her many attachments. Lumiya and Vergere even considered Luke Skywalker, only to realize that his dogmatic adherence to Jedi philosophy made him the most unlikely candidate of all.[7]

It was ultimately the Jedi Knight Jacen Solo, twin brother of Jaina Solo, who captured the interests of Vergere and Lumiya. During the war against the Yuuzhan Vong, Solo proved his ability to wield great power with responsibility through his refusal to fire Centerpoint Station,[7] an ancient space facility capable of unleashing devastating energy beams through hyperspace, against the Yuuzhan Vong, due to his belief that it would be an overly aggressive action.[22] By slaying WarmasterTsavong Lah of the Yuuzhan Vong in personal combat,[23] Solo demonstrated his willingness to dispense with power when necessary. Deciding that he was their best candidate, Lumiya and Vergere came to believe that Jacen Solo would become a Sith Lord who was different from the many others who wielded the dark side for personal gain and glory. Solo would be their champion who embraced power, not for the sake of power itself, but for the sake of creating a peaceful galaxy. Hence, Vergere manipulated events that led to Solo's capture and torture at the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong.[7] Athough he had been chosen as the next Sith Lord, he was still far from being perfectly qualified at the time. Vergere wanted Solo to be broken by the Vong and isolated from the Jedi's influence. Although Solo had been unaware of it at the time, he had already begun his Sith training, simply by interacting with Vergere.[4][7][24]

Shortly after returning with Jacen Solo to the New Republic in 28 ABY, Vergere's sacrificed herself to ensure that Solo would live on and eventually fulfill his true destiny by becoming a Sith. When Jaina's life became threatened during the Battle of Ebaq 9, Jacen rushed to protect his sister at his own peril. Vergere had no intention of allowing her dream die because of her protégé's recklessness, and so she killed the Yuuzhan Vong warriors that were threatening Jaina, but at the cost of her own life. Yet while Solo lived on, hope remained through Lumiya, whose overriding responsibility was to finish Vergere's work and facilitate the conversion of Jacen Solo. When the war ended a year later, the Yuuzhan Vong surrendered after the Battle of Yuuzhan'tar and the galaxy was reunited under the rule of the Galactic Alliance, the successor-state of the former New Republic. Though Solo would not be ready to embrace his Sith heritage for another decade, Lumiya decided to use that time and freedom to prepare for the day when the grandson of Darth Vader was finally prepared to follow in his grandfather's example.[4][10]

Jacen Solo's conversion

"You're afraid that my words might be true. That the dark side doesn't corrupt in and of itself. That you're destined to become the next Sith Lord—the first Sith Lord to be active in decades, the first one in centuries with the strength to use the Sith techniques to help others. Because if it is true, you have to make a decision, choosing between your life as it is—comfortable, but almost purposeless—and life as you know it should be."

In the year 40 ABY, the Galactic Alliance found itself in a position for yet another war when one of its member worlds, Corellia, led a secessionist movement of planets seeking independence. By that time, Jacen Solo had become a changed man. He had just returned from a five year quest to locate and learn from Force users other than the Jedi, hoping to broaden his understanding of the Force. The traumatic events that he experienced during the Yuuzhan Vong War, including the death of his younger brother, Anakin Solo, altered much of his outlook on the galaxy. He began to wonder why the galaxy had a tendency to slip into so many wars, even with the Jedi actively trying to keep the peace.[4] Most importantly, and unknown to Lumiya, Jacen had experienced a disturbing vision during his five year sojourn which made him far more receptive to Lumiya's plans. During his stay on an unidentified planet in the Maw, he had gazed into the Pool of Knowledge, a dark side nexus that allowed him to see the future. He saw within it a dark, armored figure sitting on a metaphysical representation of the Force known as the Throne of Balance. Interpreting this to mean that the galaxy would soon fall into darkness, he became determined to prevent the dark rule of the figure he had seen.

As tensions rose between the Alliance and its few wayward members, Lumiya decided that conflict and disorder made the perfect opportunity to initiate Solo's rise to power, as well as his conversion to the dark side of the Force. Through many painstaking efforts, the Dark Lady covertly operated to heighten the tensions until battle was inevitable, and thus she helped to launch the Second Galactic Civil War. Under the alias of "Brisha Syo," she finally met the man who she wanted to be her apprentice, and the next Dark Lord of the Sith.[4]

Through temptation, "Brisha" persuaded Jacen Solo to accompany her to a place where his destiny would finally be revealed to him. With his young cousin, Ben Skywalker, and fellow Jedi Knight, Nelani Dinn, at his side, Solo followed the mysterious woman to the MZX32905 system and landed on Syo's home, a habitat on a large asteroid. After explaining the origins of her residence and its connection to Darth Vectivus, an ancient Sith Lord who wielded the dark side without falling to megalomania, "Brisha" revealed her true identity as Lumiya. Though Dinn wanted to immediately kill the Sith Lady, Solo was intrigued by her knowledge and persuasive argument that a Sith could harness the dark side without becoming a self-serving tyrant. Lumiya, once an admirer of Darth Sidious, dismissed the fallen Emperor as an insane sociopath who betrayed the Sith way by seeking power only for his own sake, rather than the sake of the galaxy. She also pitied Solo's grandfather as a sad individual who lost everything he ever cared about. In so many Sith Lords of the past, Lumiya reasoned that they were all evil because of the fact that they all began as troubled individuals in one way or another; yet there were a few exceptions like Vectivus who wielded power responsibly and for the greater good. She then promised to guide Solo on the path of his true destiny to become the Sith Lord that he was always meant to be—the one who would spread peace and order across a war-ravaged galaxy that yearned for security and stability.[4]

Jacen Solo could not ignore the rational argument of Lumiya, nor his own desire to achieve the peace what the Jedi Order failed to create for the galaxy. When Nelani Dinn moved to kill Lumiya, Solo intervened on his new Sith Master's side and killed the Jedi Knight. He then erased Ben Skywalker's mind of his memories of Lumiya and her home to prevent any knowledge of what had transpired from reaching the Jedi. Although saddened by the burden and the sacrifices that would bring an end to the persona of Jacen Solo, she also took pride in the fact that she had finally won; the grandson of Darth Vader was her apprentice and he would be the pinnacle of all her achievements by becoming the first Dark Lord in decades since the deaths of Darth Sidious and Darth Vader.[4]

A rising star

"What I want is for the trillions of ordinary people in the galaxy to be able to get on with their lives knowing that it's being run by a stable form of government. The vast majority of folk just get smashed by the fallout from the power struggles of a handful. I want to see that stop. I want to see power meaning duty, service, not a prize."

The Galactic Alliance, tried, and failed, to suppress Corellia's insurrectionist movement from spreading to other disaffected planets throughout the galaxy. But when the threat to the Alliance as a whole touched Coruscant in the form of terrorism, Chief of StateCal Omas was forced to respond with the desperate measure of instituting a secret policeorganization. In order to strengthen the image of the Alliance's stance against the criminal activities of Corellian terrorists, it was decided that a Jedi should head the Alliance's new police force. At the same time, however, the situation provided a perfect opportunity for aspiring Sith Lord Jacen Solo to begin his first steps to securing the absolute power that he would need to reform the galaxy. Hence, Solo was commissioned as a colonel and given command of the Galactic Alliance Guard (GAG), much to the chagrin of the Jedi Council, which disapproved of the GAG's existence.[10]

In spite of the criticism from those who saw the Galactic Alliance Guard as the vanguard to a new Galactic Empire, given the growing similarities between Alliance and Imperial security policies, the efforts of the GAG were extremely effective as a deterrent against terrorism on Coruscant. Many citizens on the galactic capital hailed Colonel Jacen Solo as a national hero;[10] some even referred to him as the savior of the entire Galactic Alliance.[25] During this time, Lumiya continued to offer her apprentice the guidance he required, while simultaneously utilizing the assets of the GAG to increase the speed of Solo's rise to power. At first, Solo was somewhat distracted by his fears of Darth Vader's legacy. His greatest concern was that he would fail to be objective like Darth Vectivus and become distracted by his preoccupation with his loved ones, like his grandfather before him.[10] Although Lumiya was, at certain times, frustrated with her apprentice's lingering attachments to his former life, she remained confident that Solo would inevitably lose his Jedi inhibitions through the trials of pain and sacrifice. Her faith in the budding Sith Lord was vindicated as Solo gradually became more focused and ruthless in his pursuit to save the Galactic Alliance.[7][26]

Before he even finished his training, Jacen Solo and Lumiya were preoccupied with many details of his impending future, particularly regarding who would serve as his apprentice in the new Order of Sith Lords. At first, they were both of the same opinion that Ben Skywalker should be converted to the dark side of the Force. Like Solo, Skywalker was also a direct descendant of Darth Vader, and thus he possessed the innate Force potential as the rest of the Chosen One's bloodline. The young Jedi showed much promise in the beginning. His admiration for his cousin and desire to serve the Alliance in its time of need compelled Skywalker to enlist in the GAG as a junior lieutenant. Much to the embarrassment of many in the Jedi Order, including his parents, Lieutenant Skywalker proudly served alongside Colonel Solo and the GAG troopers of 967 Commando during their many raids on terrorist locations throughout Galactic City.[10]

Though a formidable asset to the Sith cause, Ben Skywalker's attachment to his family and the Jedi Order fostered doubts within the two Sith Lords about the likelihood of converting Skywalker without endangering the secrecy of their plans. Jacen Solo considered other potential apprentices, such as his late brother's childhood friend, the Jedi Knight Tahiri Veila. However, Lumiya was less than impressed by Veila, who did not possess the same potential as Ben Skywalker. But even though she clung to her hopes that the new Sith generation would be based on the Skywalker lineage, she was ultimately forced to concede that further efforts to turn Ben were futile.[5]

Death of Lumiya, Birth of Darth Caedus

With Jacen Solo's training fulfilled, Lumiya sacrifices her life for the new Dark Lord of the Sith.

When Ben Skywalker sent a recording of an unauthorized meeting between Chief of State Cal Omas and Prime MinisterDur Gejjen of Corellia, Jacen Solo discovered that the Alliance head of state was considering an armistice with the Corellians and their fellow subversives. To appease the rebellious elements within the Galactic Alliance, Omas discussed the possibility of removing Colonel Solo and AdmiralCha Niathal of the Galactic Alliance Defense Force, preferably through assassination. But because of certain wartime amendments to the Constitution, Solo and Niathal quickly used their legal authority to arrest and detain Chief Omas for endangering the security of the Galactic Alliance. With the deposed leader secured in GAG custody, the office of the Chief of State was indefinitely suspended for the duration of the Second Galactic Civil War. After clarifying their actions and intentions to the Senate, Niathal and Solo appointed themselves as JointChiefs of State and effectively seized total executive control over the Alliance.[5]

Shortly afterward, Solo inadvertently revealed his connection to Lumiya to Ben Skywalker, ironically by teaching him how to hide his presence in the Force. Skywalker, shaken and distraught by the revelation of his cousin's turn to the dark side, confided the information in his mother, Mara Jade Skywalker. The former Emperor's Hand was outraged by her nephew's deception, and especially how her son was used as a tool by the Sith. Mara, convinced that Jacen Solo was incapable of redemption, attempted to assassinate the apprentice before he could ascend to the rank of Master. Her efforts to murder Solo not only ended in failure, but also strengthened his resolve to sacrifice a loved one as a final rite of passage before becoming the new Dark Lord of the Sith. When Solo killed Mara during their encounter on Kavan, Lumiya was more than ready and willing to perform one last act of service for her apprentice; she would take the blame of Mara's death, thereby distracting the Jedi and giving Solo the time he needed to consolidate his power base.[5]

Darth Caedus, formerly known as Jacen Solo.

Lumiya easily fooled the grief-stricken Luke Skywalker into believing that she killed his wife. In their final duel, the embittered Grand Master beheaded his former lover and longtime rival. But upon learning that Lumiya could not have been the killer based on evidence that was discovered shortly after her death, Skywalker was overcome by utter shock and despair. Not only had he killed the wrong person in a frenzied desire for vengeance, but he also murdered her in cold blood. In effect, Luke Skywalker betrayed everything that the Jedi Order stood for and was drawing ever closer to the allure of the dark side of the Force.[5]

Though she had claimed to no longer hate the Skywalkers and their role in the fall of the Galactic Empire, Lumiya succeeded in exacting Sith vengeance. The Skywalker-Solo clan was engulfed by internal chaos; the man who had once been Jacen Solo ceased to exist when he fully embraced the dark side; the Grand Master of the Jedi Order was all but a broken man who had been made a fool of by the fallen Dark Lady of the Sith. Most importantly, her successor had become a full-fledged Dark Lord who was growing closer to wielding absolute power over the Galactic Alliance. In the aftermath of his master's demise, Jacen Solo assumed the duty of championing the Sith cause on his own until a suitable apprentice could be found. Although he loathed the necessity of maintaining his birth name in public for the time being, he no longer saw it as his true name. In his eyes, "Jacen Solo" was a Jedi Knight who died during the Yuuzhan Vong War. Casting aside the last remnants of his original persona once and for all, the new Sith Lord named himself "Darth Caedus" as a final acknowledgment of his new identity.[5]

The reign of Darth Caedus

"You know, Captain, I feel the hand of history on my shoulder. I really do."

At first, Darth Caedus attempted to conceal his Sith nature from the Jedi Order and his colleague, Cha Niathal, as well. Although Lumiya was found to have been innocent of the death of Mara Jade Skywalker, her final sacrifice bought the Dark Lord time to strengthen his power over the Galactic Alliance. Luke Skywalker, still distraught over the loss of his wife and guilt-stricken for killing the wrong person, attempted to reconcile with his nephew during his wife's funeral. Caedus feigned interest in amending his broken relationship with his family, mainly due to his need for Jedi assistance in ending the Second Galactic Civil War. To secure the Jedi Order's full allegiance, however, he sent a battalion of GAG troopers to the Jedi Academy on Ossus with orders to "protect" its Jedi students and instructors. In truth, they were to take the Jedi as hostages to ensure that Luke Skywalker remained loyal to the Galactic Alliance. A team of GAG troopers were also stationed inside the Jedi Temple where they failed in an attempt to arrest Han and Leia Solo.[25]

The Dark Lord's efforts to strong-arm the Jedi Order's compliance backfired and resulted in the Jedi's abandonment of the Galactic Alliance. As a consequence, the Alliance lost its chance to end the war with a decisive victory at the Battle ofKuat. Darth Caedus promptly retaliated by declaring all Jedi as enemies of the Galactic Alliance. The GAG succeeded in occupying the Jedi Temple, but not before its occupants escaped into exile. The GAG battalion on Ossus killed and injured several Jedi, but were ultimately outmatched and forced to surrender.[25]

After the debacle at Kuat, Caedus targeted the Wookieehomeworld of Kashyyyk, both to force the Confederation to turn away from the Core and to eliminate the Wookiees as a potential threat to the Galactic Alliance. Through planetary bombardment, the GAG Star DestroyerAnakin Solo unleashed a firestorm that consumed much of the planet's vast forests. But as Kashyyyk burned, Ben Skywalker attempted to assassinate Darth Caedus, convinced that his cousin was responsible for his mother's death. Despite the failed attempt on his life, however, the Dark Lord was quite pleased; his hopes to turn Ben to the dark side were renewed. But while torturing the young Jedi in order to strengthen his rage, Caedus failed to sense Luke Skywalker's infiltration of the Anakin Solo. The ensuing duel between the Dark Lord and the Grand Master was essentially even, with both duelists suffering debilitating injuries at the hands of the other. The duel however, nearly ended in Caedus' death when Ben Skywalker stabbed him in the back with a vibroblade, intending to take vengeance the death of his mother. Luke, believing that both he and Ben were teetering on the brink of the dark side due to Mara Jade's death, spared Caedus and left. Although outnumbered and betrayed by the Hapes Consortium, Caedus and his remaining forces were able to make a tactical withdrawal back to Coruscant.[25]

Sith Lady Tahiri Veila

Darth Caedus: "Tahiri, in the long term, it's easier to kill a powerful enemy than it is an apparently weak one. If you bring down a giant, you're a hero. If you kill something weak—even if it has to die—then you endure contempt. Being willing to be despised to serve the common good…that's the mark of a true Sith. You're going to make a fine apprentice for me, Tahiri."

Tahiri Veila: "Oh. I'm…official, then."

Caedus: "You may call me Darth Caedus. I shall be known only by my true name from now on."

Darth Caedus, Dark Lord of the Sith and Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance.

The failure to turn Ben Skywalker to the dark side forced Darth Caedus to look elsewhere for a worthy Sith apprentice. Hence, he concentrated more of his attention on Tahiri Veila, whom he began seducing by taking advantage of her feelings for the late Anakin Solo. Through a rare Force technique called Flow-walking, Caedus and Veila were able to visit certain moments in the past, prior to Anakin's death. Veila was overwhelmed by temptation of seeing her childhood friend once more, but was also greatly entranced by her own misconceptions of Flow-walking. She assumed that the ability could be used to alter past events; to secure her allegiance against the Jedi Order, Caedus allowed Veila to carry on with her mistaken assumption.[25][27]

Though she was not an official apprentice at the time, Caedus began imparting his personal views on to Veila, hoping that she would prove to be a more successful endeavor as opposed to his failure with Ben Skywalker. However, Veila's obsession with Anakin Solo, as well as her refusal to move beyond his memory, frustrated Darth Caedus to great lengths. Furthermore, Veila also lost some credibility in the Dark Lord's eyes due to her constant failures to locate the Jedi's secret base. Yet in spite of Caedus' criticism, Veila forced herself to try harder to prove her worthiness to him. When the Anakin Solo traveled to the Confederate world Fondor, a group of Fondorianstarfighters moved to intercept the GAG Star Destroyer. Caedus left the decision on whether or not the Anakin should fire on the fighters first to Veila. With their shields lowered, the Anakin's personnel stood at the risk of losing many lives if the fighters chose to attack first. Despite a few moments of indecision, Veila ordered the Star Destroyer's gunners to destroy the enemy targets. As the Anakin Solo returned to Coruscant, Veila struggled with internal conflict over the thought that she may have killed innocent opponents who did not launch the first strike. Yet her willingness to exert destructive power with ruthlessness when necessary also redeemed her in the eyes of Darth Caedus.[6]

In order to further test his prospective protégé, Caedus dispatched Veila on a diplomatic assignment to Bastion where she would propose an alliance with the Imperial Remnant. Although Gilad Pellaeon, the Imperial Head of State, despised Caedus, the influential members of the Moff Council were intrigued by the idea of joining with the Galactic Alliance, especially if the reward meant an expansion to their greatly diminished empire. Regardless of Pellaeon's objections to commit Imperial forces to the Alliance's war, the Remnant ultimately agreed to Caedus' proposal.[6]

Tahiri Veila's successful mission to Bastion and her involvement with Darth Caedus turned her into a rising star within the Galactic Alliance. After being recruited into the Galactic Alliance Guard as a junior lieutenant, many within the Alliance, including Cha Niathal, saw Veila as Ben Skywalker's replacement at the Dark Lord's side. Her final test manifested itself during the Second Battle of Fondor. While the Moffs ambitions could be counted on to work in Caedus' favor, Pellaeon's blatant hatred for him was a threat to Caedus and his plans. Hence, he ordered Veila to remain on Pellaeon's flagship, Bloodfin, both as his emissary and to ensure that the Remnant remained loyal to the Alliance.[6]

When the battle commenced, Admiral Niathal attempted to undermine her colleague's authority by accepting the surrender of Fondor without first consulting her Joint Chief of State. In retaliation, Caedus denounced her as a traitor and declared himself the sole Chief of State of the true Galactic Alliance. Due to his immense popularity within the military, the majority of the Alliance fleet chose to side with Caedus. Much to the dismay of the Moffs, however, Pellaeon ordered the Remnant fleet to join with Niathal's force. But Veila interceded on Caedus' behalf and argued that, without him, the Galactic Alliance would fall and the war would be lost. When Pellaeon refused to rescind his order and rejoin Caedus, Veila fatally wounded the aging Imperial Head of State with a blaster shot through the chest. With Pellaeon dead, the Moffs hastily assumed command and instructed all Remnant starships to fight for Caedus and the Alliance once more.[6]

The Sith Lady Tahiri Veila, apprentice of the Sith Lord Darth Caedus.

Once Darth Caedus learned of Gilad Pellaeon's assassination, he immediately congratulated Tahiri Veila on saving the entire Galactic Alliance. Instead of feeling pride, Veila admitted the guilt she carried for shooting an extremely old man. In spite of this, however, Caedus approved of her actions and the fact that she did not revel in the act of killing. In many ways, the two former Jedi followed a similar journey into the dark side of the Force. Like Veila, Caedus had to endure sacrifice and agony to become a Sith Lord. He had suffered the betrayal of his entire family; he was forced to kill those who once trusted him. Like Caedus, Veila severed her ties to the Jedi and their ways in order to embrace the philosophy of Lumiya's Sith Order. She killed Pelleaon, not in anger or because of a malicious streak of cruelty, but because she was determined to ensure that Caedus would not fall at Fondor.[6]

At that moment, Darth Caedus fully believed that he was destined to rule the galaxy with Tahiri Veila at his side. The Dark Lord had found a worthy apprentice at last, and thus Veila's ascension as a Sith Lady restored the Rule of Two as a practiced tradition. Regardless of the losses at Fondor, Caedus and his new apprentice successfully withdrew their remaining forces back to Coruscant. With the galactic capital in their possession, the legitimate Galactic Alliance fell under complete Sith control while Niathal and her faction of deserters were forced into exile.[6]

The fall of Darth Caedus

Darth Caedus: "Jaina is coming for me. Luke Skywalker couldn't kill me. What does she expect to do?"

Tahiri Veila: "I honestly don't know. But it wouldn't do to get careless. You're still recovering, and she's—"

Darth Caedus and Jaina Solo, brother and sister, fight to determine the fate of the galaxy.

Even without the support of the Jedi Order, the Galactic Alliance remained in a strong position to emerge victorious against both the Confederation and the Jedi's coalition of insurrectionists, largely due to the leadership of Darth Caedus and the military support of the Imperial Remnant. By this time, however, Caedus had an epiphany; he failed to live accordingly by the teachings of his fallen master Lumiya. He had forgotten that, in his original persona as Jacen Solo, he became the Dark Lord of the Sith to serve the galaxy—not to oppress it.[8] When Caedus' training began, Lumiya warned him that the path to the dark side would be painful.[4] To grow stronger as a Sith Lord, Caedus was supposed to embrace the pain of betrayal and sacrifice. But without Lumiya's guidance, Caedus realized that he became increasingly vain, dispondent and obsessed with vengeance. In short, he became more like the vast majority of Sith Lords, all of whom were destroyed by their inability to serve anything other than their own interests.[8]

His failure to control his temper also damaged his reputation, amongst the Galactic Alliance Guard, the Imperial Remnant and even the Galactic Alliance in general. Hence, Caedus felt personally responsible for some of the Alliance's worst setbacks, such as the loss at Kuat, Kashyyyk[25] and the debacle at Fondor, which nearly cost him the war and his life.[6][8] Although he took the betrayals of each member of his family, the treachery of his young daughter, Allana, pushed Caedus to the brink of madness. As a consequence, he even executed Lieutenant Patra Tebut, a loyal and reliable officer in the GAG, by Force choking her to death.[27]

The revelation of his ill-tempered actions, as well as their consequences, provided Darth Caedus with a new perspective. Thus, he waged an internal struggle to regain control of his emotions in order to lead the Galactic Alliance without the distractions of petty grudges and feelings of self-importance. He decided that, as a Sith Lord, he would use the dark side by embracing the love he felt for family, his sense of duty to the countless beings of the galaxy, and the sacrifices that he made to become the Dark Lord of the Sith. From that point on, Caedus exercised his powers with a great deal of restraint and, due to his new resolution, struggled to control his temper.[8]

Upon finally discovering the Jedi base's location at the planet Shedu Maad, Darth Caedus took the Anakin Solo and a detachment of Imperial starships to force a final outcome with the enemies of the Galactic Alliance. It was also at this time when he decided to end his apprentice's misconceptions about Flow-walking. Tahiri Veila was outraged by the revelation of her master's deception; she had fallen to the dark side of the Force after pinning all of her hopes on the false idea of preventing Anakin Solo's death in the past. Caedus knew that Veila would most likely never forgive him. Nevertheless, he hoped that Veila's new-found sense of anger and hatred would strengthen her role as a Sith Lady, as well as her connection to the dark side.[8]

Although Caedus predicted a victorious end to the war for the Galactic Alliance, the Battle of Uroro Station proved his vision to be correct, but in an unusual manner. As Veila led the shock troopers of the Imperial Elite Guard on a mission to infiltrate and destroy the Jedi base on Shedu Maad, Jaina Solo infiltrated the badly-damaged Anakin Solo and confronted her twin brother in a final duel to the death. She caused many injuries to the Dark Lord, but also suffered severe wounds in the process as well. In the midst of their vicious battle, Darth Caedus was ultimately slain when Jaina, consumed with the utter need to kill her own brother, stabbed him through the heart with her own lightsaber. On the planet's surface, Ben Skywalker successfully took advantage of Tahiri Veila's disillusionment and convinced her to abandon the ways of the Sith. Without the Dark Lord and his apprentice, both the Alliance and the Remnant were forced to surrender to the Jedi Order.[8]

Legacy

"Jacen was a hero. He killed Onimi and won the war with the Yuuzhan Vong, and then he died of his wounds. Caedus is just the monster who stepped into the hollow shell that was left behind…"

―Han Solo, trying to come to terms with his son's conversion to the dark side of the Force[src]

After his death, Darth Caedus became a controversial historical figure with a mixed legacy.

By the end of the Second Galactic Civil War, many had been killed on all sides of the conflict, including notable figures such as Mara Jade Skywalker, Lumiya, Gilad Pellaeon, Cal Omas, Dur Gejjen and PrinceIsolder. With Caedus dead and Veila taken into Jedi custody, the Galactic Alliance regained the support of the Jedi and their allies. The Moffs were also forced to surrender and accept Jagged Fel as the Imperial Remnant's new head of state. The combined might of the Alliance, the Jedi and the Remnant forced the Confederation to surrender as well, and thus brought an end to Corellia's galactic-wide insurrection. Among the concessions that were made to strengthen the bond between the new allies, Natasi Daala, a former officer in the Imperial Navy, was appointed as Chief of State of the Galactic Alliance. Though his vision of a New Order died with him, the actions of Darth Caedus united the enemies of the Sith to create a stronger and more unified galaxy.[8]

With the death of Darth Caedus and the atonement of Tahiri Veila, Lumiya's Sith Order came to an end, ironically mirroring the collapse of Darth Bane's Order. After more than a thousand years in practice, the Rule of Two came to an end. The Order of Darth Krayt continued to grow in numbers while concealing its existence on Korriban. Under the Rule of One, Krayt prepared for the day when the galaxy would fall under the dominion of thousands of Sith warriors, all of whom would answer to his ultimate authority. With Caedus' death, the title of Dark Lord fell to Krayt alone.[8][28]

Natasi Daala, Caedus' successor as Chief of State, severely undermined the short-lived galactic unity that Caedus died to create. Many of her actions while in office were blatantly influenced by her Anti-Jedi sentiment, and thus created a new round of tensions between the Jedi Order and the government of the Galactic Alliance. Despite her promises of forging a galaxy that did not require the Jedi to solve issues and dilemmas, Daala's campaign and open hostility against the Order failed to gain widespread support amongst the Senate and the people of the Alliance. Many sympathized with the besieged Order, which Daala threatened several times with her Mandalorianmercenaries.[29][30][31]

The standoff between the Jedi Order and the Daala administration reached boiling point when the Jedi Council was forced to take preemptive action against the Chief of State. With Plan Delta in effect, the Council stormed the Executive Building on Coruscant and arrested Daala. In the wake of the Jedi coup d'état, the office of the Chief of State was indefinitely suspended and a constitutional replacement was created in the form of the Triumvirate. Amongst the first three triumvirs was Acting Grand Master Saba Sebatyne, who represented the interests of the Jedi within the new executive office.[32]

Meanwhile, the Galactic Alliance's political establishment was infiltrated by members of the Lost Tribe of Sith, an organization loosely descended from the Old Sith Empire. However, their attempt to conquer the galaxy through the Alliance was ultimately prevented by the Jedi Order, following the return of their exiled Grand Master, Luke Skywalker.[33]

Darth Krayt and the One Sith.

Almost a century after the death of Darth Caedus and the collapse of Lumiya's Sith Order, the Galactic Alliance was dissolved after its grievous defeat in the Sith–Imperial War. A resurgent Empire, the successor state of the Imperial Remnant, restored Imperial sovereignty over the known galaxy, under the leadership of EmperorRoan Fel and the Moff Council. Fel's victory was short-lived, however, when his "allies" within the One Sith betrayed the Imperials and forced the emperor into exile. With Coruscant secured, Darth Krayt usurped the Imperial throne and declared himself emperor of the New Galactic Empire.[34] As Fel and his loyalists vanished into hiding, much like the remaining forces of the former Galactic Alliance, a new civil war broke out across the galaxy as the Sith and their empire faced adversaries from various sides, such as the Jedi Order, ex-Alliance soldiers and Fel-Imperialists.[35]

Sith ranks

"Two there should be; no more, no less. One to embody power, the other to crave it."

Hence, Lumiya's Sith Order possessed only two ranks—a Master to embody the power of the dark side, and an apprentice to crave said power. Unlike Bane's Order, however, the term "Sith Lord" did not encompass both sexes. When Lumiya assumed the Sith legacy of Sidious and Vader, she took the title "Dark Lady of the Sith." Likewise, Tahiri Veila became known as a "Sith Lady" during her time as the apprentice of the Sith Lord Darth Caedus.[1][8]